Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Considering Small Museum Leadership


As we reflected on the publication of the Toolkit, we recognized that one of the major challenges facing small museum leaders was not addressed directly in the text. 

How do you choose where to put your time, effort and energy?

The Toolkit provides a broad view of all the work you might tackle in your museum, but it doesn't tell you where to start. That choice depends on each individual leader and museum.

So we decided to do a series of conference sessions called Small Museum Leadership Considered to provide a quick way to make choices.  (Our next session will be at the American Association for State and Local History conference, Friday, Sept. 20, 4 p.m.)

We developed a four-part prioritization tool to be used in those sessions that asks you to consider how the projects ahead of you will help you to...

When we used this tool at sessions at AAM in 2012 and 2013, we found that a majority of the audience identified developing audiences and solidifying your reputation as the key areas they needed to pursue and wanted to discuss with their colleagues. Many fewer people wanted to discuss building an internal coalition or assessment and planning.

Hmmm…why were those externally-focused priorities of greater interest that the internal ones? 
  • Did we push people to think externally by asking leaders to think about concrete projects instead of their overall organization?
  • Do small museum leaders really need to reflect more on external issues?
  • Are the internal issues just too challenging to face?

What do you think?

If the pattern holds out at AASLH, then we have an interesting conundrum. Do we give you more of what you want? Do we put you in touch with more resources to help you with your audience and your reputation? Or do we try to help you face the tough stuff – working with your volunteers, staff and board to pursue a united vision? Or do we focus on the balance among these four areas as the best way to move small museums forward?


Stacy Klingler currently serves local history organizations as the Assistant Director of Local History Services at the Indiana Historical Society. She began her career in museums as the assistant director of two small museums, before becoming director of the Putnam County Museum in Greencastle, Ind. She was chair of the AASLH Small Museums Committee (2008-2012) and attended the Seminar for Historical Administration in 2006. While she lives in the history field, her passion is encouraging a love of learning in any environment.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

The Toolkit Talks at AASLH in Birmingham

Will you be attending the AASLH annual conference in Birmingham next week?


Meet with five contributors to the Small Museum Toolkit at The Toolkit Talks: Sharing Resources for Small Museums on Thursday, Sept. 19, 4 to 5:15 p.m., chaired by Janice Klein.

After a brief overview of the series, each contributor will share tips or next steps in 5 minute presentations: 
  • Collections Management with Pat Miller
  • Developing Exhibits with Janice Klein
  • Museum Legal Issues with Allyn Lord
  • Project Management with Rebecca Martin
  • Visitor Studies with Stacy Klingler

After these quick presentations, you'll be able to choose a roundtable discussion lead by a presenters about one of the topics for 25 minutes. Then you can change areas during for the final 25 minutes of the session and interact with a different presenter and group of colleagues.

Through the discussions with the Toolkit contributors and your colleagues, we intend for you to travel home with practical information and further develop your personal  network and resource base.

We hope to see you there!